Lifestyle Changes Among Canadian Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Results from Six Representative Samples Between 2020 and 2021
This study analyzes data from six representative samples of 1,467 Canadian students collected between 2020 and 2021 to demonstrate that the COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted their psychological well-being, health behaviors, finances, and access to services, with female students and those from lower-income backgrounds experiencing disproportionately negative impacts.
Original paper licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). This is an AI-generated explanation of the paper below. It is not written or endorsed by the authors. For technical accuracy, refer to the original paper. Read full disclaimer
Imagine the human mind and body as a complex, high-tech spaceship. Under normal conditions, this vessel runs on a delicate balance of fuel (healthy food), exercise (movement), social connection (crew interaction), and mental navigation (feeling calm and focused). Now, imagine a sudden, planet-wide storm hits. The storm forces the ship to dock in a dark, silent hangar for months. The engines are throttled back, the crew can't leave their cabins, and the supply lines get tangled. This is the story of the COVID-19 pandemic. Scientists, who are like the ship's engineers, have been trying to figure out exactly how this "storm" damaged the systems of different passengers. They know that when life gets weird and scary, people often stop eating right, move less, and start feeling anxious or lonely. But they wanted to know: who on the ship got hit the hardest? Did the storm affect everyone the same way, or were some cabins more vulnerable than others? This is the question a team of researchers set out to answer by looking at the lives of Canadian students during the height of the lockdowns.
The researchers, led by Alyssa Heise and Vincent Gosselin Boucher, decided to take a giant snapshot of the student experience, but instead of taking one photo, they took six different ones over a year and a half, from October 2020 to December 2021. They gathered data from 1,467 students across Canada, asking them to report on how the pandemic had shaken their "spaceship." They looked at four main areas: how the students were feeling inside (psychological ill-being), what they were doing with their bodies (health behaviors), how they were paying for things (personal finances), and whether they could still get help when they needed it (systemic access).
The results showed that the storm definitely caused some serious turbulence. More than half of the students were female, and most were between 18 and 21 years old. When the researchers looked at the data, they found that female students were significantly more likely to feel the storm's impact than their male counterparts. In fact, female students were about 2.25 times more likely to feel anxious, 2.39 times more likely to feel depressed, and 2.63 times more likely to feel isolated. They were also more likely to feel irritable and worried about their body weight. It wasn't just about gender, though; students who were older (over 22), had lower household incomes (under $60,000), or had pre-existing health conditions also reported more trouble.
The "fuel" and "exercise" systems of the student ships took a hit, too. Nearly three-quarters of the students (72.2%) said they were moving around less than before the pandemic. About half (55.6%) admitted their eating habits got worse, and a large chunk (42.3%) said they were drinking more alcohol. While some students turned to smoking or vaping more, the most striking finding was that students with pre-existing health conditions were nearly three times more likely to report an overall worsening of their physical health.
The financial and logistical systems were also strained. About one in four students (26.1%) reported losing income or having their work hours cut. For some, the storm was so strong they couldn't pay their rent or buy food. Students with lower incomes and those with health conditions were the most likely to face these money troubles. Furthermore, about 15% of students said they had to cancel medical appointments or had trouble getting non-COVID medical care, suggesting that the "repair shops" for their health were harder to reach during the crisis.
The authors suggest that these findings are a clear signal that the pandemic didn't just pause life; it actively disrupted the daily rhythms of students, especially those who were already navigating life with fewer resources or extra challenges. They argue that while schools have offered help, the current approach of waiting for students to ask for individual therapy might not be enough. Instead, they propose that universities need to become more like sturdy, supportive hubs that proactively address these issues—fixing the "fuel lines" with better financial aid, keeping the "crew" connected with social programs, and ensuring that mental health support is built into the school system itself. The study doesn't claim to have solved the problem, but it provides a detailed map of where the damage is worst, showing that to help students weather future storms, we need to strengthen the ship for everyone, but especially for those who are already struggling to stay afloat.
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